As we rounded the point just below the lake there,
and looked out upon the broad water, I saw the moose I spoke of,
feeding. We sat perfectly still, and permitted the boat to drift back
down the stream until we were out of sight. We then landed, and I
crept carefully and silently to that clump of fir trees. I had my own
and my companion's rifle both properly loaded. Having got a right
position, I sighted for a vital part, and fired. The animal rushed
furiously forward two or three rods, with its head lowered as if
making a lunge at an enemy, then stopped, and looked all around,
standing with its back humped up, and its short stump of a tail
working and writhing at a furious rate. I sighted it again with the
other rifle, and pulled. The animal plunged furiously for again for a
few rods, stopped a moment, and then settled slowly down, and fell
over on its side, dead. It was a cow-moose and would weigh as killed
five or six hundred pounds. I was a pretty proud man then, as that was
my first moose, and about as big feeling a chap as was Squire Smith
the other day, when he brought down that buck. I have shot two others
here since, one at each visit I have made."
The season for moose hunting along the water pastures, was nearly
over. They go back upon the hills in August, the food there being by
that time abundant.
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